The discussion through Skype on research topics between two laboratories were carried out as virtual problem based learning project. During the discussion, the blinking eyes were counted as biological data. After the project, questionnaires were given to the participants. Two series of data, biological data by counting blinking eyes and psychological data derived from questionnaires were compared and analyzed. Both data were compatible reasonably and could be well explained complimentary. If the system could be established systematically, it would be a very powerful educational tools for both teachers and students in the future.

In the context of collegewide practice of active learning, it is effective to prepare digital educational materials. Therefore, we are preparing them based on the viewpoints of our college senior graduates who have worked long and/or are currently working in Japanese industries as leading engineers. As part of promoting smart education along with active learning at a collegewide level, our college has introduced a system where students can gain practical engineering credit points through extracurricular activities. As a means of giving the credit points, we employed a system where students could gain the points by doing tasks edited by selecting some parts of our educational materials which cover many fields.

Students’ generic skills cannot be developed only by classroom lectures unilaterally performed by teachers, but they can be developed by a highly practical form of learning such as active learning (AL). Our college is promoting educational reform by practicing AL in all classes. This paper describes current approaches of our college based on the directions of National Institute of Technology (NIT), Japan. Also, regarding the AL classes of respective teachers, the content of an AL class and the actual plan of his/her style of an AL class are stated. Moreover, the content of a practical report on an AL class and the approaches of utilization are reported.

Our college has already started flipped learning in the classes of some subjects underlying engineering, more specifically, mathematics, physics, chemistry, applied mathematics and applied physics. These subjects are taking a central role in promoting active learning in our college. In 2013, we introduced ICT-driven equipment into the laboratory classrooms of physics, chemistry and applied physics. By implementing this equipment, we are practicing active learning (flipped learning). Traditional flipped learning applied at home and abroad is based on the classroom lecture. On the other hand, from the standpoint that the education of Colleges of Technology is characterized by practical science, our college has created the environment for a new type of active learning (flipped learning) where classroom lectures and experimental practices are combined. In some cases of flipped learning, students use study materials written in English for preparation. And so, our college is promoting the teaching of English related to engineering as well.

In the future, it is expected that robots will play important roles in coexisting with humans. Whenever humans come into contact with these robots they must be able to adjust their physical softness parameters, which will help humans remain calm and which will be favourable for human emotions. Therefore, it is desirable for robots to control their impedance characteristics in such cases. From these points of view, desirable values of the impedance parameters of robots are investigated in this paper through a rating scale method. In terms of the results, the emotions felt by humans with regard to the robots being soft, pleasant and human-like are explained by a linear regression model of the impedance values, and the emotions of being reassuring are classified into four groups.